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I can't die. It would ruin my image" -- Jack LaLanne

For musical icons such as Elvis and Tupac, death has been the ultimate career move. However, last week's passing, at 96, of fitness pioneer Jack LaLanne is unlikely to spike sales of the Power Juicers he so earnestly hawked.

In losing LaLanne, we lost more than an icon -- for he was that rare man truly ahead of his time. In addition to becoming a self-taught fitness and diet expert -- during an era in which cigarettes were marketed as health enhancers -- LaLanne created an entertainment genre: televised exercise.

He also intuitively recognized the life-extending potential of calorie restriction -- consuming just two small meals daily.

Who's next?

But the fitness/wellness industry for which LaLanne became the mid-20th-century's Pied Piper was a much smaller universe. His daytime TV show catered primarily to sedentary, stay-at-home housewives. It was perfect for its time.

I remember watching LaLanne as a child and was a member of one of his eponymous gyms in the early 1980s, so his passing got me to thinking: Who, if anyone, today possesses the mass appeal -- and effective presentation -- to become a 21st-century version of him? After all, by 2030, there will be some 80 million Baby Boomers ages 65 or over. And we're not slowing down.

No, as Baby Boomers redefine what it means to be a "senior citizen," we're going to need our own LaLanne. Someone to give us the cutting-edge exercise, nutrition and wellness advice to remain as vital and active as LaLanne himself was until the end.

The contenders

Our fitness guru should be a layperson. Sure, we'll always need the medical advice of TV docs such as Mehmet Oz and Sanjay Gupta. But the face -- and physique -- of Boomer fitness should have elements of celebrity and pop-culture relevance.

Until a few weeks ago, I would have considered Suzanne Somers, 64, a leading candidate to assume the role.

The former Three's Company star and Las Vegas entertainer has come a long way from her Thighmaster infomercial days. In addition to beating cancer via alternative treatments that she had researched vigorously, the blond starlet has written 20 books on various health, beauty and fitness topics (suzannesomers.com).

She also has been a vocal proponent of bio-identical hormone-replacement therapy, as detailed in her bestseller Breakthrough (which was prominently showcased in last year's Sex and the City 2).

Granted, many of Somers' views have rankled the medical community. But for me, that's part of her appeal: She's an iconoclast. All she wants is for the public to know that there are alternative approaches to every health-related matter. And she's quite a compelling public speaker.

No, what I fear might derail her is what she's done to her, well face. As the National Enquirer reports in its current issue (dated Feb. 7), and as the public saw last week during her book tour promoting Sexy Forever, Somers has become Hollywood's latest plastic-surgery nightmare.

Unless, and until, the swelling from whatever she had done subsides (the tabloid speculated that it was a "stem-cell face-lift"), I doubt that, when they see her, the public will be able to focus on anything else.

That leaves Tony Horton. At 52 (but looking 35!), the handsome, personable celebrity trainer has created a fitness empire via his innovative P90X home workout program (beachbody.com). In fact, after LaLanne's death, Horton said that LaLanne was one of his idols, and had inspired him to exercise when he was child.

Horton is already well-known to tens of millions around the country, thanks to P90X's ubiquitous infomercials. But what I think could put him over the top is the support he has received from ESPN (the male equivalent of being adopted by Oprah).

At least a half-dozen of the network's on-air personalities -- guys I respect, such as Jim Rome, Doug Gottlieb and Colin Cowherd -- gush about how P90X has transformed their bodies and lives. I've heard similar endorsements from friends and acquaintances.

Will Horton ascend to LaLanne's lofty perch, atop the new millennium's fitness world? Only time will tell -- and let's hope we'll all be around as long as LaLanne was to see it.

Copyright (c) 2011, The Palm Beach Post, Fla. 

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